Nonionic Surfactants: Physical Chemistry. Edited by Martin J. Schick. Marcel Dekker, New York. 1987. 1,150 pp. ISBN 0-8247-7530-9. $195.00 (U.S.), $234.00 (Elsewhere).

researcher and a well known clinician and provides comprehensive information on NSAIDs. It covers all aspects of the newer therapeutic uses of NSAIDs and demerits of many NSAIDs which were withdrawn from the market in previous years. It uncovers a new horizon for the use of NSAIDs for the treatment of sports medicine, peridontal diseases, and cancer. The WHO guidelines on the development of NSAIDs is an interesting chapter for regulatory scientists. This book will be valuable to clinicians (especially to those who are involved in clinical trials of NSAIDs), scientists, and regulatory scientists. Most importantly, this book provides much information on a large number of NSAIDs, often difficult to find in other books. The only deficiency of this work is that the authors should have included a comprehensive chapter on recently developed information on the pathogenesis of arthritis. Asoke Mukherjee Pharmacologist 7900 Coriander Drive Gaithersburg, MD 20879

Nonionic Surfactants: Physical Chemistry. Edited by Martin J. Schick. Marcel Dekker, New York. 1987. l ,I 50 pp. ISBN 0-8247-7530-9. $1 95.00(U.S.), $234.00 (Elsewhere). In 1966, Dekker launched the “Surfactant Science Series” of books with Nonionic Surfactants, a summary of the organic chemistry, physical chemistry, analysis, and biological properties of the nonionics, edited by Martin J. Schick. Now, after some 20 years, we have another volume on the nonionics, again edited by Dr. Schick. This new book is devoted to summarizing the present state of knowledge with respect to the physical chemistry of nonionic surfactants. Surface activity (i.e., lowering of surface tension and accumulation a t interfaces) is a t the root of nearly every application for nonionics. One difficulty is that studies of surface phenomena require pure materials, while commercial surfactants, which would be used in practice, are notoriously heterogeneous. There may be significant differences between the behavior of purified nonionics and their commercial counterparts. Due consideration to this problem and other questions relating to surfactant composition make this a volume that bridges theory and practice.

352 / Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 78, No. 4, April 1989

The book is organized into 18 chapters, each of which deals with a property, technique, or application. All of the authors have worked extensively in the areas about which they write. In general, the coverage is quite thorough, although readability varies. Separate chapters deal with surface films at the air-water interface, adsorption a t the solution-solid interface and its effect on wetting, micelle formation in aqueous and nonaqueous media, solubilization, phase equilibria, emulsions, multiple emulsions, foams, detergency, dispersion stability, HLB and its relation to phase inversion properties, surfactant-polymer interactions, and structural studies by NMR and small-angle neutron scattering. Two additional chapters focus on properties of the polyoxyethylene chain, dealing with solution configuration and stability, respectively. Since various properties of the nonionics are interrelated, it might be expected that there is a great deal of overlap from chapter to chapter. This is not necessarily detrimental; however, the reader must be prepared to dip into several locations in researching a particular topic. A good index would be of great value in tracking down aspects covered by more than one author; unfortunately, the subject index in this volume is far from adequate. As a n example, cloud point, a well known attribute of nonionics that is mentioned in several chapters, does not appear in the index at all. Many references to specific surfactants or specific additives described in the test are also missing from the index. The nonionic surfactants are widely used in pharmaceuticals largely because of their relatively low potential for irritation and toxicity. Despite a limited subject index, this book is an excellent reference to basic properties of nonionics as well as many applications with relevance to pharmaceutical development. The price probably limits its purchase to libraries. Those interested in this volume will also want to look into Surfactant Systems by D. Attwood and A. T. Florence ($99.00) published by Chapman and Hall i n 1983. The latter is a well-organized, concisely written treatise on the physicochemical properties, biological interactions, and pharmaceutical applications of surfactants. Joel L. Zatz Department of Pharmaceutics College of Pharmacy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Piscataway, NJ 08854